Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Friday, July 20, 2012

An Open Letter to Richard Ianuzzi and NYSUT members at large

We are writing with frustration, anger and disgust about the current lack of leadership at NYSUT. Union leaders have not acted in the best interest of the public school teachers they are charged with representing. They have allowed both teachers and students to be pawns in what will be a disastrous experiment with public education. The ramifications of implementing Race to the Top were never fully researched before NYSUT agreed to pursue the funds. The strictures of RTTT, Common Core and APPR are detrimental to public school teachers and students.

ED NOTE: I interrupt this letter to say "Yay" to the CToCC (Concerned Teachers of Chautauqua County) who have called out our union leaders for supporting chasing after the Trojan horse funding of Race to the Top. Please consider signing this letter and passing it on.

UPDATE: Here is the link for the facebook page for the Chautauqua County folks. They have revised their statement a little, so if you forward this info, pls go to their facebook page first.

We are a small but committed group of active, pro-union teachers. We
believe that a strong teacher’s union is beneficial to its members as
well as to students. NYSUT has a proud history of hard fought gains for
public educators and public education. We feel very strongly about
current trends in public education and feel compelled to share some of our concerns.

We are writing with frustration about the direction of NYSUT. We feel
that our union has not acted in the best interest of the public school
teachers they are charged with representing. Both teachers and students
have become pawns in what will be a disastrous experiment with public
education. We feel the ramifications of implementing Race to the Top
were never fully researched before NYSUT agreed to pursue the funds. The
strictures of RTTT, Common Core and APPR are detrimental to public
school teachers and students. To be clear; we are not against, nor
afraid of, being evaluated. Teachers are under constant scrutiny by
parents, students, administrators, and the public at large. We are and
always have been evaluated professionally by a state approved APPR. The
state mandated an updated APPR document approximately eight years ago.
We are also not against all standardized testing per se. Testing has its
place if used appropriately and fairly. By agreeing to the
burdensome and patently unfair teacher evaluation that is tied to RTTT
we feel abandoned by NYSUT. Recent legislation allowing people to view
teacher evaluations should hardly be considered a “victory”. Research
has shown how excellent teachers can be rated ineffective or developing,
depending on students’ scores on exams. These tests are not designed
to evaluate teacher effectiveness. How can we, as professionals, think
that a test that is as flawed as the 2012 eighth grade ELA exam can
accurately assess ELA proficiency? Student testing and value added
"rating” systems could never accurately evaluate the relationship
between students and teachers. It cannot assess the "art" of teaching.
What it will do is create tension, fear, uncertainty and a divide
between teachers, students and administrators. Critical thinking,
inquiry and discovery will be lost from teaching as schools become
factories for test taking.

At a time in which the state is
decreasing aid to schools, school districts are being forced to
eliminate courses and programs and shift precious dollars into
implementing Race to the Top requirements. RTTT has become a
boondoggle, costing districts much more money to comply with than they
received from the program in the first place. The paperwork, creation of
SLOs, printing costs for scoring materials, the inability of teachers
to proctor and score their own students' exams, and forcing schools to
buy more tests from third party vendors are all nightmares of scheduling
and budgeting. This is one more example of the shifting of public money
into private coffers. Companies like Pearson, with NYSUT's approval,
will make hundreds of millions of dollars selling tests and other
"educational" materials aimed at "improving" education, while local
school budgets get tighter and tighter. Corporations selling products
are more interested in making money than in the well being of children.

We wish NYSUT hadn’t waited so long to take a public stand against the
overuse of standardized testing. It should have had the foresight to
see what was coming. NYSUT should have been out in front of these
issues from the get go, loudly and proudly proclaiming that the teachers
it represents deserve better than demoralizing directives from the
Commissioner and denigrating comments about how teachers must work
harder from the Governor. NYSUT's primary job should be to protect
teachers from unfair and intrusive practices, not to go along with false
reforms that victimize teachers and harm students. The following is a list of issues that we would like NYSUT to address: 1. Publicly denounce not being included in the governor’s Education Reform Commission. 2. Advocate for a return to the federal government of all RTTT funds so that we can be free of its mandates. 3. Publicly endorse and support the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. 4. Demand an immediate end to high stakes testing and the VAM of teacher evaluation. 5. Endorse the Principal’s Letter circulated by Carol Burris and Sean Feeney.
The changes and pressures that New York State public educators have had
to confront this past school year are just the beginning of what we
fear is a vast sea change that will forever hurt public education. In
these trying times, all union members need to have the courage and the
will, whatever it takes, not to concede, not to cave to whatever is
politically expedient, but to do right by teachers, and by extension the
children in their care. Signed, Concerned Teachers of Chautauqua County Kara Christina-Fredonia Middle School Amy Lauer-Fredonia Middle School Michelle Greenough- Fredonia Middle School Cathy Casini-Steger- Fredonia Middle School

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

5 comments:

Wasn't it a case of NYSUT actually seeing what was coming and negotiating the best "deal" possible? ...A case of not if a new APPR is coming, but when? If I recall, the so called win was test scores not being tied to pay. This made it harder to lobby against. I believe that politicians in NYS also feel that the Teachers Union has less clout due to a large portion of the membership not exercising their right to vote. How many members are not even registered? This factor does come into play. It is easy now to say that the wrong path was taken. Where would we have been if NYSUT would have taken a different path? Better off? Or, with no seat at any table in which decisions are made that affect us as teachers. In any case, it is good to see teachers becoming actively involved. The union does belong to its members. Perhaps the Concerned Teachers of Chautauqua County will begin the process of seeking support for a resolution to be presented at the 2013 NYSUT RA? However, it will be important to remember the history of how we made it to where we are now in regards to APPR.

Appeasement only delays. In the long run it makes things worse because it gets people but by bit used to the slow drip of death. Even if you lose by making a stand at least the membership feels there is a fight going on they can be part of. Over the long run getting people in fighting shape instead of walking backwards has a better chance of victory.

The governor, department of ed. and legislature were going to do what they were going to do regardless of whether they had NYSUT's support, which is EXACTLY why NYSUT should have opposed these reforms in the first place. NYSUT had the law on their side concerning the APPR, but gave up the lawsuit about the % of test scores on teacher evals. This is so frustrating because if you teach ELA or Math in grades 3-8, the test scores trump all. It doesn't matter what score you get from your administrator, the test scores determine your score. The bottom line is that the" crisis" in education was manufactured by anti-union entities who want to take public money out of education and shift it to the private sector. Are there schools in crisis? Yes, but the problems they face are societal, cultural and poverty based. The vast majority of public schools and public school teachers work harder than ever before in the history of public education to meet the needs, and they are many, of the children in their classrooms. What is so confounding and frustrating is that teachers have been completely left out of the dialogue about what public schools need and we feel that NYSUT hasn't helped teachers' voices to be heard. That's why we wrote the letter. Please check out the revised version of this letter at the CToCC Facebook page.

Every teacher I talk to feels NYSUT, Governor Cuomo and President Obama have all abandoned us. Teachers' opinions were never considered, from the beginning; the very people "in the trenches" and who know children and how they learn best, were never consulted regarding "improvements to our education system." Instead, business consultants ran the show. What no one talks about is the AGENDA behind RTTT. Vilify experienced teachers so they will leave the profession. Administrative assertion of power to keep power (watch how many "political" appointments are made when teaching jobs begin opening up due to retirements. "It's who you know" rather than what you know.) "Level the playing field" so valuable teaching experience doesn't count in the evaluative process. Hard working, effective teachers are constantly in fear of being judged harshly by their school administrators. The worst part of all is how detrimental this is for our children; they are the victims of leadership's misuse and abuse of power.

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

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Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

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The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

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GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

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“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

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How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

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Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

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When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

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The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

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